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I've always enjoyed instinctual training. Although I probably should have put more thought into progression while I was still doing it, it was always nice to go into the gym, take a second to think about how I felt and and what I needed/wanted to work on, then do whatever I needed to do on a given day.

My diet has been evolving a lot lately as I've been cutting. I managed to go from 231 to 219 just by cutting out all carbs 6 days a week, then I got down to 216 with strict calorie counting and eating small meals throughout the day.

But eventually while I was eating my small meals I got a craving for my favorite low carb meal- WINGS. I make the best damn homemade deep fried wings you can find. I even make my own garlic parm coating that my wife absolutely loves (she's not much for buffalo sauce). I decided to do a low carb day and have a wing feast for dinner, but to also continue my calorie counting to make sure I stayed on track with my goals.

The results were fantastic! I realized that by combining different dieting techniques I could do whatever I felt like doing on a given day, as long as I took the time to measure out my intake and keep it under my calorie goal most of the time. If I feel like having some meat then I do a low carb day. If I'm feeling hungrier earlier in the day then I'll space out small meals. I'm using intermittent fasting when I feel like having a huge dinner. When I'm feeling extra motivated I'll do what I did yesterday and have nothing but 1200 calories worth of protein shakes.

I'm very happy with what I'm getting from this technique of switching up my diet. Sometimes I'll have extra carbs the day before a zero carb day to really burn some fat off, or I won't eat carbs most of the day but I'll eat a bunch right before/after training. This method has also been great for my job, which requires me to be flexible as far as when I get to eat. If I'm busy all day and can't get away to get a meal, I just use do IF.

So far with this method I've dropped from 216 to 212 in only a couple weeks. I feel great, energy is up, and strength is up too.

Beware, however, if you decided to swith around like this yourself, that your bodyweight will jump around based on what you ate/didn't eat the day before. In the last 3 days I've been 214.2, 215, and 212.2 respectively.

I've switched completely to instinctual eating this year, but I only allow myself to eat something I didn't cook once a month. So far it's served me well.

It wouldn't fit a strict definition of low carb, but I do avoid pasta, rice, white poisons, etc. I eat watermelon, grapes or strawberries at night when I need something sweet.

The switch to 99% unprocessed foods has allowed me to eat whatever I want and still lose 34 pounds. It's easy to overeat calories with chips and salsa. Hard to overeat calories with green beans.

When you count calories and start to equate different foods with their caloric values you really start to see the value of clean eating. Sometimes I end up stuffing myself at the end of the day to get in my calories because I don't want to have too large a deficit too often.

But the problem is that people don't realize how much damage they can do with 1 or 2 really bad meals. I've been eating 2,000 calories a day, and some days I end up eating over 1000 calories for dinner because I've only had 1000 during the day. Conversely, I can eat 3-3500 calories easily in one sitting if I eat pizza or go to a Chinese buffet. In fact, I would find it extremely HARD to eat less than 1500 calories of pizza.

In the end, though, I think a more instinctual take on dieting by focussing on calories alone also has a huge psychological effect. Most people only really struggle on a diet because they are more aware of what they AREN'T allowed to have. Hell, I'm allowed to have whatever I want as long as I end up eating less than 2000 calories when the day comes to an end.

The body can adapt to changes in it's environment extremely quickly. Sometimes changing things up works really, really well. Personally, I tend to instinctively eat. Meaning that when I feel I need carbs throughout the day, I eat them. When I don't I have keto-like meals. Everyone's different though!

The body can adapt to changes in it's environment extremely quickly. Sometimes changing things up works really, really well. Personally, I tend to instinctively eat. Meaning that when I feel I need carbs throughout the day, I eat them. When I don't I have keto-like meals. Everyone's different though!

Absolutely. If I were one of the lucky ones that didn't lose all my strength on a keto diet then that's what I'd be doing every day. Unfortunately this isn't the case.